A light-sensitive silver halide color photographic material is generally comprised of a support, and coated thereon three different kinds of silver halide photographic emulsion layers spectrally sensitized selectively so as to be sensitive to blue, green and red rays of light, respectively. For example, a light-sensitive silver halide color photographic material for color negative photographic use is generally coated with a blue-sensitive, green-sensitive and red-sensitive silver halide emulsion layers in order from the side to be exposed to light and such a photographic material is also provided with a bleachable yellow filter layer between the blue-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer and the green-sensitive emulsion layer, so as to absorb blue rays of light transmitting the blue-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer. Further, it is usually provided with other interlayers for the various particular purposes to each of the emulsion layers and also a protective layer to serve as the outermost layer. Further, a light-sensitive silver halide photographic material for color print use is generally coated with a red-sensitive, green-sensitive and blue-sensitive silver halide emulsion layers in order from the side to be exposed to light and, similar to the case of the above-mentioned light-sensitive silver halide photographic material for color negative use, interlayers including a UV absorving layer, a protective layer and so forth are provided with the verious purposes, respectively.
It is also well known to provide each of such silver halide emulsion layers in the different arrangements than the above, as well as to use light-sensitive silver halide emulsion layers each comprising two layers sensitive to the same wave-length region of the respective color lights.
In the above-mentioned light-sensitive silver halide color photographic materials, a dye image is formed in such a manner that exposed silver halide grains are developed by making use of a color developing agent such as an aromatic primary amine type color developing agent and the resulting oxidized products of the color developing agent is so reacted with dye forming couplers as to form the dye image.
In the above-mentioned method, a cyan, magenta and yellow couplers are ordinarily used for the cyan, magenta and yellow dye images, respectively.
In the field of the art, there are demands, in recent years, for color light-sensitive materials capable of being rapidly processed, redering an excellent image quality and a processing stability, and inexpensive in cost. In particular, there are more demands for color light-sensitive materials each capable of being rapidly processed.
To be more concrete, light-sensitive silver halide photographic materials are processed running with automatic processors installed at various photofinishing laboratories. These laboratories are requested to finish the materials and return them to their customers within the very same day when they received the processing orders thereof, for the service improvements to their customers. Recently, it is further requested to return finished materials to their customers within several hours after receipt of orders. The developments of further more rapidly processable color light-sensitive materials are urgently and increasingly demanded.
Generally, the above-mentioned dye images are formed in such a manner that a normally exposed color light-sensitive material is color-developed, bleached and fixed (or bleach-fixed in one step). and then washed. As for color print papers particularly required for a rapid processability, the most essential technique required is to shorten the color developing step.
There are several techniques for rapid processing methods, and one of the most effective techniques for shortening a color developing step is to increase a pH value of a color developer used. Namely, the increase in a pH value of a developer not only accelerates a silver development rate of a color developing agent used in an exposed silver halide emulsion, but also remarkably activates a reaction of the oxidized products of the color developing agent, which was resulted from the silver development, with couplers and, therefore, desirable photo- graphic characteristics such as a high sensitivity and a hard contrast can be displayed.
However, when a color development was made rapid by raising a pH value of a color developer particularly under such a condition as in processing a color print paper, some problems were found.
Namely, there raised such a new problem that a color light-sensitive material is affected by the coloration of a color developer and so forth resulted from the fatigue of the color developer caused by an aerial oxidation at a high pH value.
There have so far been many proposals with the purpose of solving the above-mentioned new problem. For example, a method in which such an aerial oxidation inhibitor as a combination of a hydroxylamine and a water soluble sulfite is added to serve as a preservative into a color developer. When using such a combination, an aerial oxidation inhibitor capable of displaying some degrees of effectiveness, but not statisfactory effectiveness when using them independently.
A more effective aerial oxidation inhibitor may be prepared by increasing the amounts each of the hydroxylamine and the water-soluble sulfite in a developer, however, a dye stain may be produced more as each of them is increasingly added, because blue-sensitive spectral sensitizers may not be dissolved out from a color light-sensitive material. In color print papers, the above-mentioned dye stains become a serious defect in quality. On the other hand, when reducing the amounts of the hydroxylamine and the water-soluble sulfite added, the aerial oxidation inhibiting property is weakened and the preservability of a color developer is deteriorated and, therefore, the color developer is so increasingly colored as to increase the fatigue of the color developer.